If you are visiting Yellowstone it is a good idea to know what the gateway communities have to offer. From some of the best fly fishing and snowmobiling in the country to hiking, floating, museums, and so much more. I talk bout all the communities and what to consider at each one.

Welcome to another episode of Titan Nature's Yellowstone. This is your host Adam Brewer Baker.

A Happy New Year, the New Year,

2023. Thanks for bearing with me the last couple weeks.

As I was spending time with family, I think getting an episode out.

And I almost missed this one. I was thinking about it, busy this month.

I'm gonna be headed into the park today and be in for the next three days.

Today's Wednesday. Anyways, I wanted to do something different today.

I wanted to actually talk about outside of Yellowstone.

A lot of people are coming to Yellowstone.

There's some people staying in the park, but there's a lot of people staying on the outskirts of Yellowstone.

Gardener, Montana, Cook City, Cody Wyoming, Dexamoyoming, Island Park, West Yellowstone.

I wanted to talk about some of those areas and things you can do outside the park.

Because there's a lot you can do outside the park that you can't do inside the park.

One of the things that got me thinking about this, the last summer, Yellowstone was flooded.

Yellowstone was not accessible and people don't realize what there is to do in the surrounding area.

Basically, I mean, minus the thermal areas in the park, which is a big draw.

It's a huge thing. There are, I mean, anything else you could probably do outside the park as far as wildlife.

And a lot of recreational activities you can't do.

So let me kind of go through a list. I'm gonna go from town to town.

And I'll kind of give you the surrounding area. I'm gonna try to give you airports that you're

flying to. I'm kind of give you a run down of things to do outside the area. Just to show you

how much there's to do in the area. So I'm gonna start up north with Gardener, Montana.

Though from Gardener, the best access really is Bozeman, Montana.

You can also come in from Billings, Montana. Those are gonna be the two closest airports.

And since I mentioned Bozeman, Montana, let me start there. Because there's one area I want to

mention up there. And that's the Museum of the Rockies. It is a great museum. The premises of

is dinosaurs. But I've been there a few times with my families. Of course, they always have the dinosaur

exhibits they've had. Well, I don't think they're replicas. Life size dinosaurs. So if you think of

a museum of the Rockies, you know, you have the, I don't know what they call that, you know, the T-Rex that's

running around. Believe they've had that at Museum of the Rockies, I believe they've had a traceratops.

I remember going there and it was really neat. My boys loved it. Was they have this big glass window.

And you can actually watch people working on, I don't know what you call it, you know,

that they're paying top, I don't know if they're panel entologists, but they're in there working

on the bones or digging, uncovering or whatever it is they're doing, which is pretty neat.

And then with the Museum of the Rockies, museums have a rotating exhibit. So it's a great museum to

spend some time at if you're coming through the Bozeman area. So from Bozeman to Gardener, you're about an

hour and a half. And in Gardener, Montana, this sits right, I mean, literally right on the edge of

Yellowstone. I think the, can't remember what street it is where the kind of row of buildings are.

The sidewalk is actually the border or Yellowstone. So things to do in Gardener, as you can do

rafting on the Yellowstone. I believe the Gardener River. Now, I would check out the flying pig. I know

that they run some rafting trips. And that's, that's fun. I'm not, I can't be for sure on this, but I

also think they have some scenic floats on the Yellowstone River. So if rafting in the white water is

not really your thing, the scenic floats are nice. It's just a relaxing enjoyable time on the river.

And then just outside of Gardener to the north, there's a place called Chico Hot Springs. Imagine

you can guess what that is. They have hot springs and there's a place you can stay there or you can go

up and enjoy the hot springs and so it's a great day. And then they do have fishing out of that area as well.

All around Yellowstone is fishing. Fly fishing is the most popular in this area. And if you're not

familiar with fly fishing, just think of, well, it's different. You're not, you know, you don't have a weight.

You're not thrown out like if you're familiar with casting with a worm or a lure, you know, or lure

your burning out there, reeling in, throwing out their reeling in. Which you can do something with that,

like that with fly fishing as well. And in a worm, you gotta wait. Maybe a bobbar. You're throwing it

out there and just letting it sit. Well, fly fishing, you're very active. And there's a kind of a

constant motion back and forth. You have a weighted line that takes this line out to the end of that line.

There is an artificial fly. And depending on the type of fishing you can doing, that artificial

fly might land on top of the water. It might, might go underneath the water. And so you're kind of

letting that fly float down and no bite. Then you pull it back out when you throw it upstream or

wherever you're fishing at downstream. And it goes again. And so that's the basic idea of it. And

what I love about dry, you know, fly fishing, especially dry fly is you need to put that fly on top of

the water. And you see that fish coming forward when you got clear water. And you're like, okay,

this is the one I'm going to get. So anyways, if you haven't been fishing or you want to try fly

fishing, other communities have that. Trying to think about other things in Gardener. You know,

there's the wonderland cafe. I mentioned a place to eat wonderland cafe is a great option of

place to eat. Gardener's changed a lot over the years. And right now, it's a wonderland cafe is kind

of the least spot for food. There's a small grocery store, which is good to know in Gardener.

Quite a few different hotels. I have some Airbnb and bees there. I lived in Gardener for a little

bit. I was trying to think of anything else. And I think I think that'll that'll be good for Gardener

to smaller community. Let's go out towards the east there. Let's go to Silvergate, Montana and

Cook City, Montana. So Gardener was on the north entrance kind of it's on the west side. And Cook

City and Silvergate going to be the north north east side of the park. So things to do in Cook City

and Silvergate snowmobiling for the winter time is a big one. A lot of people go out there for

snowmobiling. And you know, all of these areas I should mention as well are good for wildlife.

So let me back up to Gardener just around Gardener. You know, you have elk and bison that will

roam around town and deer. If you're in Gardener and don't see elk or deer, it's funny that you

don't I guess. I mean, it's very common. Big corn cheap coming into town, pronghorn. There is a

ton of wildlife around Gardener. Same goes with Cook City. Cook City, you have more bison typically

roaming around there somewhere. On the mountains, the cliffsides surrounding Cook City and Silvergate,

I have seen big horn cheap and mountain goat. So let's take a little bit more looking to find.

Like one time I was going to one of the restaurants there in Silvergate and they were not on time

opening. They keep me in Apologize and say, sorry, I had a bear on my porch this morning. They get

bears through there. I know they've had wolves through there. Moose are pretty common in Silvergate.

Moose foxes. So wildlife is great in that Cook City and Gardner, or Cook City Silvergate area.

The bear tooth pass is very popular. So the bear tooth pass is, I believe it's considered one of the

top 25 scenic drives in North America. It's a beautiful drive going outside of Cook City going towards

Red Lodge, Montana. You go over a high mountain pass. You're just, I want to say you're just shy of

11,000 feet or close to 11,000 feet. You go over occasionally the sea mountain goats as you go over

bear tooth pass. There's some nice mountain lakes up there and you can see pike is up there.

So that's a beautiful drive that'll take you into Red Lodge. And you know, spend a little time in

Red Lodge. Red Lodge is nice. I also consider one of the gateway communities. From this area,

you know, the closest airport is going to be Billings, Montana, or I guess you could also go into

Cody. And then you know, Red Lodge, I'll mention something there. I honestly can't remember what it's

called, but there was a wildlife sanctuary, a place where wildlife, you know, they don't know if

they can be rehabilitated. They got in trouble under there. And the one I like about this area is

this is right used to be these. I mean to see the mountain lions there was it was pretty neat. So

might check that out. So other things with Cook City and that Silvergate area lodging. I always

stay at the Alpine Motel or the Super 8. There are other places to stay there as well. I've always

felt very comfortable in the Alpine Motel in Cook City. Those fires, places to eat and Silvergate

in Cook City for Silvergate, the log cabin cafe has always been my go to for breakfast in the morning.

They have a great breakfast. They're open earlier than anybody else. So almost I get one other one.

And I'll mention with that we want a good breakfast sit down. I go to log cabin cafe. And then in

Cook City, I go to Beartooth Cafe typically for dinner. For lunch, I've visited both before the

log cabin and their bear tooth. The Beartooth Cafe has a great, great dinner menu and it's probably

I'd say the most consistent place in Cook City as far as getting dinner and having a good meal.

Across the street from there there is the minor saloon, more of a pizza. They do a few other

things but it's my problem with that is a great place but it's a cash only. It's always been a

cash only. So that makes it a little harder sometimes. But then for breakfast in the breakfast place

in Cook City is the Beartooth Bearclaw and it's Beartooth Cafe. It is right next to the Super 8.

The things they have, the pastries, the bread, the cinnamon rolls, the things they have in the

morning for breakfast are just the die for. I always take people in there. We kind of get to go breakfast

to get the park fast and it's open early. There's I want to say five o'clock. I probably wrong on that

five dirty. Anyways, it's the earliest place to open. If you're looking for a coffee, that's a great

place. So Beartooth Cafe, I know that they do like eggs and bacon breakfast as well. I have never

done that. It's a great place to grab things on the go. And you know, Cook City and Silvergate,

they're tiny. I remember hearing year-round population like 60 or 70. Not a whole lot going on there,

but it's just a nice little spot to visit and to have access to that the Lamar Valley quick where

the wildlife is Beartooth Highway. So that's what I mentioned about Cook City. Let's go on to Cody.

Now I have to be honest, I've never been to Cody. It has been on my list for a long time. I've

heard some great things about it. I've been out that way. So between kind of right on the edge of

Yellowstone before long before you get to Cody, Pahasca Tipeee. And I stayed there just outside the park.

And that's an awesome spot. I mean, it's really cool because they've been there and or staying at the

cabins and you're looking at the mountain behind you. And there's a mountain goat up there,

two grizzly bears. There was a bison you're watching behind you walk around a moose on the way

down and then there's a wolf hiling. And so that area outside between Cody and Yellowstone is again

terrific for wildlife. The Pahasca Tipeee has some pretty neat history behind it. It actually

Buffalo Bills original lodge the eastern side of Yellowstone. So neat, neat history behind there and

they have some of that in there and they have a gift shop and a place of dining area in there as well.

You know, again wildlife especially bears along that area going out to Cody. The couple things

they know about Cody is Cody actually has a nightly rodeo. Every night they have a rodeo. So that's

something that's worth going there and seeing something a little different, you know, some places in

the south and out west rodeos are pretty common and not an east, not as common. I think some

people are surprised to hear and I tell them that rodeos in this area where I live is actually a high

school sport that they compete in that. So that's something they need to see and they also have a

great museum in Cody and to say that the museum is probably under rating it. It's a, well it's a museum

but I believe it's five, five different museums. The museums are part of the Buffalo Bills, excuse me,

the Buffalo Bills Center of the West. You have the Buffalo Bills Museum. You have Plains Indian Museum.

You have the Cody Firearms Museum which that one sounds pretty neat. I think they have over 10,000

different artifacts in there or you know it's American Firearms. I have the Natural History Museum

and the Western Art Museum. So I've heard some great things about that. They also have some special

exhibits in there. So if you're in Cody I would definitely put the museums on your list,

been some time there. And the Cody does have an airport that you can fly in there. I believe they

have some, I know you can do some horse ride back riding in Cody as well. They have some ranches

there. So and that's one of those places that you know you might look at a dude ranch. You know

some of these surrounding areas and all Jackson has these dude ranches and the dude ranch kind of

gives you a full experience. Usually fishing and horseback riding, ATV riding, you're going to stay on

sometimes it's a working ranch. So that might be something that going to Cody I would look into.

And I wish I knew more about Cody. I have friends that live there and that's on my list of somewhere to

get to. Now let me get to Jackson and Jackson, it's Jackson Jackson Wyoming Jackson Hole,

it's all the same thing. And so that's South and you actually go through Grand Teton National Park

to get to Jackson. I was thinking about talking about Grand Teton National Park right now. But I think

what I'm actually going to do is just do a different episode to go over Grand Teton. I know there's a

lot of people visiting Yellowstone also want to visit or do visit Grand Teton National Park. It's

so close to two national parks or about seven miles apart. So it's nothing worth

with entertaining the idea of going to Grand Teton. And so great wildlife, great scenery.

Anyway, so it's some great things to do in Grand Teton. But I want to talk about Jackson and kind of

that surrounding area. They do have a airport right in Jackson from this area. You could also

consider the Idaho Falls Airport, the Salt Lake City, which is going to be the closest international

airport. Then they do have a rodeo, but the rodeo in Grand Teton or excuse me in Jackson.

Once it's two or three nights a week. So not every night like Cody. So that's a good draw. And then

nothing I just remembered is they do a nightly shootout. So the the theater there will come out into

the town square and put on a little performance where it's supposed to be the longest running shootout

reenactment in the country. So then I've done that and it's it's fun, especially for kids,

they'd get a kick out of it. You know, I have a lot Jackson is known for recreation outdoor activities,

horseback riding. Different ways to do that. Again, you can do a dood ranch. You can do a wild west

cookout. You can just go for a ride. A lot of places offer the horseback riding. A lot of fishing in

this area as well, fly fishing as well as lake fishing. And that's both in Grand Teton. And the

rivers there as well as outside the park. In the wintertime Jackson is a big ski area. And so you

have Jackson hole mountain resort. But I will also mention 45 minute drive over to Drix Idaho

into Alta Wyoming. You can have Targi, which Targi is also a great area. I believe it has more

terrain and probably deeper snow than Jackson. It is not as well known. So skiing in the winter time

is a big draw. And for that in the wintertime snowmobiling is a big draw. Now those say and actually

I should mention the smaller one there too. Right in Jackson is the snow king resource. So it's a

smaller ski hill right in Jackson, whereas the Jackson hole mountain resort is Teton village. You

know, it's 10 minutes outside of Jackson or film. But what does and I'll mention the ski hills. They're

both active in the winter and the summer. In the summertime they transform for hiking. You can

still take the gondola up. A lot of people will take mountain bikes up and ride the mountain bikes

down at the ground. Teton mountain resort. They do have restaurants at the top of the ski hill there.

And then at the snow king, which is the smaller one, they will actually have, I think they have a

couple things that have changed over time either Alpine coaster and Alpine slide. If you're not

familiar with that, think of a little roller coaster that you're on, you know, a rail that you have

the handbrake to. So you're going down the mountain at whatever speed I guess you feel comfortable with.

And they have a couple of other things there. I jump thing climbing wall. So some fun activities there.

And then they have some great whitewater rafting. The whitewater going down the snake with things like

big gauhuna and munch counter. Some great rapids in there. And then they also have some beautiful

scenic floats. And those scenic floats are ones that are at the base of the Teton. You know, floating

the snake river. And you know, again, that area on those floats great for wildlife. A lot of people

come to Yellowstone say, I want to see a moose. Well, go down to Jackson, the Teton's if you want to see

a moose. There's a lot of moose, a lot of great wildlife in that Jackson area. As far as places to

eat there, I'm a big fan of the blue collar restaurant group, which would be Bubba's and Sidewinder's

and the Mary Piglets are all great food with a little variety there. Places to stay in

Jackson. I, you know, it's more affordable. It's right off of town square. I always enjoy the

Elkantler lodge. And they got Elkantler motel. There's about three of them. Elkantler is a kind of

all in one group, which aren't what's nice. I stay at the election 10th right off the town square,

which is nice. There's the Jackson Hole lodge, which actually used to work at, which is a beautiful

beautiful property. A little bit off of town square. Nice spot. They have the free volley to take

in. I think that kind of gives you Jackson in a nutshell. There's also ATV in that area. So,

as far as extra things to do with the family, Jackson is a great area. And as well as that,

over going over to the West Yellowstone, where I'll hit next, I'll say Big Sky West Yellowstone,

an island park Idaho on that west side. Think type of thing. You got a family looking for a lot

of extra activities. These are the two places to be. Now, going to West Yellowstone, West Yellowstone

does have a smaller port. Otherwise, you do have Bozeman Idaho Falls and Salt Lake are going to be

kind of the best options there. So in West Yellowstone, a couple of things they have, I'll start with

right and west and I'll kind of work outside the area. West Yellowstone has a big ropes course.

Feel like a high rope saying this looks like an awesome course. I've never been on it. Easy to see

throughout town. The ropes course. And then they have the Grizzling Wolf Discovery Center,

which is an IMAX seeder right next to that. And so the Grizzling Wolf Discovery Center is

educational. It's animals that have been rescued that can't be returned to the wild. And it's very

educational. It's very good. The animals are active. Bears, they rotate every 45 minutes in hour or so.

When they take one set of bears out, sometimes they allow the kids to pay a little extra and go in

and high food or they'll go in and put food places. And so when the bears come out, they're actually

active. You see them moving logs. You'll see them swimming. So it's just very nice to see a bear

up close and watching that behavior. They occasionally do the same thing with wolves. And then they actually

haven't an otter exhibit that I have not seen yet. But I hear the otter exhibit's nice. And so a few

things in there, visitor center talks about these animals. So I think that's worth doing. In West Yellowstone,

a couple places that I know for forget in the meal. I always recommend the three bear lodge. Excuse me,

three bear restaurant, but also for staying a place to stay. I recommend the three bear lodge. And then

they have the three bear restaurant, which is open for breakfast and dinner. And really in West,

there's a lot of good places, just like Jackson. It's hard to go wrong with food. In West, I like

three bear restaurant. I like bowl wrinkles. Kind of my two go and pizza pizzas might kind of go

to place for a pizza place, pizza and pasta. So take a look at those. That's kind of what I recommend

there in West Yellowstone. Now, the surrounding area, there's, I mean, so 45 minutes to the north. You

have the big sky area, 45 minutes to the south. You have island park Idaho, which are also bringing some

great activities. Some of these I'm going to talk about are going to be for all three areas. But let me

go out to big sky for rafting in this area. This would be the place to go is up to big sky. And big

sky in the wintertime, they have the ski resort. So a lot of people come in in the winter ski, then

they'll take a day trip down to Yellowstone. I think it's geyser whitewater out of the big sky area

that does whitewater. I believe they're the ones that have a zip line as well. So that's something

else to look at up in the big guy area. And then over to island park Idaho. That's actually where I

live in island park. And there's some great things to do here here in the wintertime.

This area is all about snowmobiling. There's about a thousand miles of snowmobile trail in this area.

In this area, they boasted it's the best snowmobiling in the country here in island park because of

the terrain and the amount that snow that we have. Right now where I am at, a lot of snow this year,

where like 150, 160 percent normal. And I think we're at, guess, in 35, 40 inches right now. And that's

down low. Up high, there's a lot more snow. So great snowmobiling in the area. And then in the summertime,

what keeps this area going is fly fishing. And that's the same with West Yellowstone,

Big Sky area. Island Park. I mean, you have these rivers, the Madison, the Henry's fork.

They're considered blue-ribernate fly fishing waters. They're some of the best fly fishing in the world

here in this area. So you want to try the fly fishing which I described a little earlier. This is

a great place to do it. And I would look at trout hunters, have some great guides.

Exactly. They were friendly. He guides out of there. Henry's fork anglers is a great,

great option as well. Looking for guides for fly fishing. Other things in the park area.

That's what I call a lazy river. So there's two rivers, the Buffalo,

kind of the beginning of the Henry's fork, which you can rent tubes or raft or kayak, whatever.

And it's just like a lazy river. I mean, you can, I can walk the whole thing. There's some deeper

holes, but I mean, it's like at my knees. But I feel like maybe up to my thighs in some areas.

Some places going down the rivers kind of annoying because it gets shallow enough that you kind of have

to get out of your tube and walk for a second. So it's just a beautiful section of the rivers. You

can see moose on those rivers. And it's a great family, friendly one, especially for younger kids,

where they can play in the water and it's not fast-moving. It's a little, you know, a little bit more

comfortable as a parent having your kids in this in this water. There's a little chilly. I'll

mention that, but on a hot day, it feels nice. Also a great ATVing. So for reeling motor biking,

you know, rent side by side or any of those, a lot of trails here in this area. And there's actually

the old trail. Basically it goes from West Yellowstone over to Drigz Idaho. 50 miles or so of that is

actually motorized vehicles. You can go on the old railroad trail amongst all kinds of other

trails. The great wildlife in this area, you know, the first six grizzly bears I saw, beginning of this,

well, I guess last year now, we're within a mile of my house off the road just grazing. Tons of elk,

done places, and every morning you can see elk out in the meadow by Harman State Park, which

offered Harman State Park offers some great hiking and there's some great hiking in the area.

Kind of think of anything I've missed. With Island Park, I need to finish up with places to eat

and places to stay. Now, this is tough for me because there's a lot of friends, a lot of these places

from great places to stay, but I'm going to mention a couple here. There'll places to eat. I like

Cafe Subur. The Mexican place right on the Henry's Work River. I go to Bond's Lodge a lot. That's

actually where I get my lunches for all the tours. They have kind of the pizza and burger menu,

great great pizza there. Trait Hunter has good food. I was just there the other night with my wife.

Connie's has good food. Those are kind of my go-to. I know there's some other places. The pines are,

I think it's the twisted pines now just open back up and there's Lakeside Lodge and I'm going to

forget the name Island Park Cafe, which does a breakfast. Keep on meeting to get over there. I hear

some great things. It's hard. There's some great places in Island Park to eat and there's a little

grocery store here as well that you can get your basics at. Actually upgrading is going to be a

little bigger this next year hopefully. And then places to stay. You have the Marriott, the Spring

Hill Sweets right on the Henry's Fort, the beautiful location. You have the Sawtell Mountain Resort.

You have Tembers Condominiums. You have the pines. You have all kinds of Arabian bees and verbose in

the area. I know I'm getting some of those as well. But tons of places to stay. And so take a look at

those. I think that kind of wraps up this area. And I just want you to be aware of, you know, if you're

coming to Yellowstone, there's a lot to do. A lot of people like, "Well, we got two days in Yellowstone.

We're going to take off. Take a look around the area because it's a beautiful area.

There's lots of trails. There's all kinds of outdoor activities. And there is so much more.

Keep your family in this area than visiting Yellowstone." That being said, definitely spend more

than two days in Yellowstone. Yellowstone is awesome. I love it there. There's so much to do. But just

realize that there's a lot more than Yellowstone in this area. To I want to thank you for tuning

into another episode of Titan Nature Yellowstone. Definitely take a look at our Facebook and Instagram.

I'm excited for updating that with some winter images soon. And then I want to wish you happy

New Year. Have a great day.